Issei barely was able to escape the path of the blade and had locks of brown hair cut off as a result. He hugged the wall of the room with his back and formed his sacred gear on his left arm. He swiftly ducked under a horizontal swipe and recklessly lunged forward to tackle the person wielding the sword.
The person dodged Issei's lunge and Issei rolled on the ground before standing up once more. Now, with switched sides, Issei was able to evaluate his opponent. The man had long white hair that went to his shoulders. His irises were an interesting shade of red, but they were so dark it almost looked unremarkably black. Or that could be the lighting of the room, it was dimly lit by the dying wick of a candle on a nearby table.
The man was wearing an open black trench coat with golden buttons and highlights over a white cleric uniform. The sword in his hand was just a normal hilt and blue energy emitting from the brown colored hilt. It might've been wooden or metal, Issei didn't get a good look at it, but there was no crossguard on the sword.
The man spinned the sword a few cycles in his hand before deciding to speak up. "Don't dwell on my sword too much, Devil. It will be the last thing you see, but I don't want it to be the last thing you remember. I'm sure you have a lot more important things to worry about. Perhaps important people in your life."
He spoke Italian, Issei noted. It wasn't a coincidence that Asia and this guy both spoke the same language. He wanted answers. "Who are you?" Issei's Italian was still shit, but it seemed that he was able to finally roll his r's now. He supposed he would have to thank Ddraig later for apparently having his tongue exhibit muscle memory.
The man stopped twirling his sword and looked ready to strike again. "Didn't I just tell you, Devil? My name doesn't matter." The man charged at Issei once more and Issei twisted but felt his side get grazed by the blade.
Backing up to gain some distance, Issei grimaced at the pain but needed to ignore it at the moment. The man's sword barely made contact with Issei's shirt. The blade was extremely sharp. The man lowered his sword for a second, looking like he wanted to say something.
"I'll let you die slowly actually. You aren't a worthy opponent, so I decided not to grant you a swift death." The man came forward at Issei once more, slicing at him with the same downward slash that he first used when he caught Issei off guard. Issei brought his gauntlet to block it as a defence.
The blue blade of the sword suddenly disappeared, and Issei's eyes widened. The hilt of the man's sword was still slashing down at Issei's chest and he could see a blue blade forming from the tip of the hilt.
Trying to back away from the incoming sword, Issei felt it slice his stomach vertically along where his belly button was. Thankfully it wasn't deep enough to start spilling out his guts or his stomach acid. 'Ddraig, can you do something about this?' Issei thought in his head.
A flame went across his wound and died out quickly after. It seemed that Ddraig cauterized it, but it still hurt really badly. Holding his breath, Issei charged at the man with a plan in mind. The man dodged Issei once more and Issei skidded on the ground, not wanting to bump headfirst into the wall.
"You're a brute, Devil." The man said calmly at Issei. "I should kill you where you stand. In fact, I think I'll do just that." Damn, the man was simply just too fast. Thankfully, he didn't slash at Issei and chose to simply dodge instead. Issei hypothesized that the man's sword energy came from the hilt. If he could just get to the hilt, he could maybe twist it out of the man's hand or try to break it with the gauntlet.
'Boost!' Hmm, that was convenient. On the other hand, it was much quicker than last time. It only took about a half minute this time, compared to the two whole minutes when Issei hid from Raynare behind the tree.
Issei felt his adrenaline spike, and waited for the man to come to him this time. The man predictably came rushing at Issei with his sword in hand. Issei was about about half a foot taller than the man, which meant that he should have the reach to his advantage if not for the sword. Hmm…
The man did the exact same downward slash, and Issei brought his gauntlet up to block it just like last time. He gambled everything on his next move. As the man's blade came down, Issei threw a front kick diagonally upwards towards the man's head. The blade disappeared right before it came into contact with Issei's sacred gear, and Issei's leg managed not to get sliced.
The kick landed onto the man's chin and made him stagger back. Issei took that opportunity to try to get a hit in with his gauntlet, but the man quickly recovered and formed his blue blade again and blocked Issei's hit with his sword. It was a really awkward quick decision made by the man, but it was too late for him to back out now. The blade struggled against the metal of Issei's fist, looking ready to shatter extremely soon.
'Boost!'
Issei felt his adrenaline spike once more as his strength increased. His fist shattered the blue energy of the sword as he gave the man a good left hook to the cheek, trying to hit him in the chin but missing his destination. The man collapsed and put his hand on the wall, trying to stabilize himself.
The man moved his jaw around and massaged his cheek with his hand. He wiped the blood from the side of his mouth and spit out the blood that was already in his mouth. A red bloodstain was visible on the side of the clean white wall.
"Tsch." The man scoffed. "It seems that I need to take this fight more seriously. Fine, devil. I will grant you the quick death that you deserve for drawing blood." The man stood up, and yellow energy started forming from the hilt instead of the original blue. "This is holy energy, Devil. You know what that means right?" He gave a smirk in Issei's direction.
His dark eyes glowed red, the color finally becoming visible. The light of the room flickered black, but then turned back normal. Issei looked at the candle of the room in the corner of his eye. It was still burning defiantly. "Aspetta!" A familiar female voice came from the dark side of the room.
A girl with a teal tunic came into Issei's sight as she stepped into the candle's light. The man held his sword firmly as he turned to his right. "Stay out of this, Asia." Issei watched as Asia continued to come towards the man with glowing green energy emitting from her hands. She put her hands close to the man's jaw.
Issei heard a 'crack' from the area where he had kicked the man's chin. The man groaned as green energy coated the lower part of his face. Asia talked as she worked her magic, "I don't want anyone to fight. Please, let's just ask God for forgiveness, Father."
The man shoved Asia away, the girl falling down to the ground. The man glared at Asia with a fierce look. "Don't call me by that damn name, Asia. I'm no longer affiliated with the church in any way." Issei could see Asia's tears escape from under her white blindfold as she cried.
"B-b-but Father, I'm sure that God will forgive you if you just-" The man lowered his sword, no longer paying any attention to Issei anymore.
"I don't care about God, Asia. Do you know who that man right there in front of us is?" He pointed the yellow blade at Issei. "We were ordered to kill him, Asia."
Asia looked in Issei's direction for a second, before telling the man. "No one has to die today, Father. God would not approve of this." The man's blade swiped to his side in anger.
"STOP SAYING HIS FUCKING NAME ASIA! How do you still manage to cling on to the idiodic belief that God still cares about you? Do you know what he did to me? To us?"
Asia started intensely crying, face in her hands. Issei's heart clenched, seeing her in this condition. He finally spoke up, interrupting the man. "Can you stop yelling? Do you not see that you're making her cry, dumbass?" The man looked at Issei for the first time in a minute that he had been talking to Asia and started laughing uncontrollably.
"You think you know Asia, Devil? You think you understand the pain she went through? You know nothing." The man snarled at Issei. "Asia, look at the man you want to save. See for yourself how cruel this world really is." The man brought his sword down onto Asia and Issei's eyes widened as he extended his hand forward.
"Stop!" He wasn't going to make it. The blade of the sword came upon Asia's face but it didn't cut her body, only the white blindfold. Underneath the cloth was Asia's violently closed eyes. Issei could see her cheeks rising to accommodate for her eyes pushing down so tightly.
The man gripped Asia's arm in his hand and said to her, "Asia, come on. We wouldn't want to be rude to the Devil over there. You're giving us a bad look." His tone was condescendingly patronizing. "Open your eyes." He whispered loudly.
"No!" Asia shook her head from side to side harshly. "I won't do as you say."
The man cackled and pulled her in front of him so Issei could see her. He held his sword against her throat and said to Issei, "You see, Devil. Asia is a very special human that was born with not one sacred gear, but two. Twilight Healing and Eyes of Twilight. The first one is pretty self explanatory, but it's only when you consider the second one where things really start to get interesting. She's what's known as an 'oracle'. She was gifted with the ability to sense emotions and magic from all around her. With her eyes, her senses become ambient and she is able to see them."
Issei had enough of the man talking. 'Boost!' Issei went to try to punch the man again, his shock keeping him at bay no longer.
The man took his free hand and touched Asia's skin. "It's only so fascinating talking about her powers. Why don't you show him, Asia?"
As Issei was less than a feet away from Asia, the man forcefully opened up one of her eyes and all Issei saw was silver.
'Boom'. An explosion of energy erupted from Asia as Issei was thrown back with such a force that he broke through the wooden door of the house. Groaning, Issei opened his eyes to see the daylight above him. He got up off the wooden shrapnel, back feeling like it was fractured in multiple areas.
He slugged back in the house to see the man on the floor as well. Asia now had both eyes open, spewing out random words as her eyes were wide full of shock along with her mouth. She started looking around the room and saw both Issei and the man. She looked back and forwards between them and started backing into the corner of the house that was farthest from the both of them.
The man groaned and got up off the floor. "Shit. I forgot how it felt to be blasted with your energy, Asia." He snapped his fingers and a white engraved seal opened up next to him. "I'll see you another time, Devil. I'll make sure to put you to sleep the next time we meet, permanently." His eyes widened and his smirk made him look insane.
The man limped towards Asia, with one hand on his chest and prepared to exit along with her, probably through the seal which was surely a portal of some sorts 'Oh, no you don't.' Issei thought.
'Boost!' Issei felt his adrenaline spike one last time and rushed forward to the man and kicked him in the direction of the portal. The last image Issei saw of the man was a look of shock on his face before his body went through the circle and it closed behind him. A shining white light emitted from the teleportation going off successfully, and Issei felt his vision lose focus once more.
Once the light had died down, there was no more use for the candle, which had burnt out at this point. The sunlight shone through the broken wooden door that Issei had been forcefully expelled through. It only shone so much though, and the angle of which the sunlight came through didn't reach the corner where Asia was hurdled against.
Issei went into the shadow of the corner and saw Asia covering her face with her hands. Issei had no idea how to help her. "Asia. It's me, Issei. The man with the sword is gone now. Can you come out and explain to me what's going on?"
No response. Sighing, Issei came closer to her and to his surprise she reached out with her hand and caught his wrist. Issei's visions were once more filled with the events of the past week, but this time including fighting the man from earlier. Once they had finished, they started repeating over and over again.
Fumbling around with his hands, Issei tried to feel for Asia. Once he was able to find her forearm, he pulled it forward and felt her collide against his chest. He wrenched his wrist out of her hand and embraced her, avoiding touching her skin at all costs.
Issei's chest burned and he brought himself off of Asia, holding her an an arm's distance away with his palms gripping either side of her shoulders, Issei looked down at his chest and saw that a cross shaped hole was burned through his clothes and there was a cross shaped burn mark on his chest. Issei couldn't feel it, so it must've been a third degree burn. Damn.
Looking back at Asia, Issei stared into her eyes, seeing it for the first time. They were a beautiful shade of silver with a black swirl encompassed by a surrounding gloss touch in her irises. It reminded Issei of the moon. They were quite beautiful.
Asia's voice didn't have the usual liveliness to it as she stared into Issei's eyes and just said. "Black." Issei was confused. What was black on him? Besides the Kuoh Uniform, there were no features on him that were colored black. Even his eyes were brown.
"Asia, are you okay?" Issei wondered for her sanity. Was she going to turn out fine? Was this state of being she was in a repercussion of her powers? Asia was silent as she brought her hands up and started healing Issei's chest.
A green aura covered both the wound from the man's sword and the burn mark from Asia's cross. Issei didn't feel anything, but watched as his scorched skin turn back to the normal shade of tan and his wound sealed up as well.
"Thank you." Issei said. Not sure of what else to say to Asia.
She looked at him once more and said "Black." like it explained everything. She moved her hands up to Issei's face and Issei instinctively caught her hand, not knowing what she was going to do. He was hit with instant regret as he started seeing visions again.
Except this time it wasn't his memories. Issei saw a blurry vision of a baby wrapped in a blanket being baptized, someone with feminine arms wrapping a white blindfold around a girl's head, a wounded boy collapsing on top of white steps, and an image of black feathered wings. Issei's vision came back to normal and he immediately thought of a solution. He let go of Asia's hand, and Asia didn't seem to rise them up to Issei's face when he let go.
Looking at his clothes, Issei checked to see if he could make a makeshift blindfold for Asia. His black jacket was too rough, his white dress shirt was too rough as well. Issei grabbed his red undershirt, which was already sliced in half by the man's sword, and tore off a piece of it with his gauntlet. His shirt was already torn anyways.
Imagining his left hand as normal skin, the gauntlet proceeded to shine green before disappearing. Not wasting any time taking in his recent accomplishment, Issei took the torn piece of cloth in both hands and pulled on it firmly.
Approaching Asia with the tightened makeshift blindfold, he saw her curious silver eyes as she inquired "Black?". She didn't seem to stop Issei though, and he took that as a sign to continue. He covered her eyes with it and wrapped it around her head, tying both sides tightly into a knot.
Issei let go of the red blindfold and backed away from Asia. No explosion of energy this time it seemed, Issei noted. He sat on his legs and kneeled down next to Asia, waiting to see her reaction.
She started moving again, waving her hands about. Issei wasn't sure if he should touch them or not, so he just spoke up instead. "Asia? It's me, Issei." Asia stood up, which prompted Issei to get up off the ground as well. He watched Asia patiently as she no longer moved her hands and was just standing still in silence.
"Issei?" Asia finally asked in her regular voice, but sounding a little scared. Was she not able to sense him?
"Yes Asia, I'm right here." Issei patted the pockets of his pants and his sweater, looking for the pamphlet Rias gave him to ask her for help. The only time he wanted Rias to be stalking him and he had no way of contacting her. Issei sighed.
"Apologies, I'm just getting used to your signature. My senses just went haywire from opening my eyes." Issei felt sympathetic for her, it must be really draining to sort through mixed senses. He couldn't even imagine what she was going through right now.
Asia smiled at him. "You're worried about me, aren't you? Don't worry Issei, I'm fine." He didn't need to be an empath to know that she was currently lying.
"Sorry about kicking your contact through his portal. It was impulsive, I don't know if it will bite you in the back soon." Issei only now thought about the fact that he might've made things worse for Asia by helping her. He supposed it wouldn't be called 'helping' if that were the case.
"It's okay, Issei. As long as I have God watching over me, I will be safe." Issei raised his eyebrow at her. Surely she didn't feel that way when she was cowering in the corner.
"Who was that guy anyways? Was he anyone important? He seemed pretty strong. I don't know if I would've survived if he unleashed his full power." Thinking back to the man's glowing red eyes and his holy sword, Issei needed a way to counter his most obvious weakness as a devil.
"His name is Freed Sellzen. He used to be an exorcist for the Vatican. I call him 'Father', because I consider him a priest. He is no longer loyal to the church, but he strongly believes in what he considers right. That's why he's similar to a preacher for me."
"Vatican?" That would make sense. Vatican City was in Italy which would explain why both Asia and Sellzen spoke Italian.
"Vatican City. There is an exclusive church that tourists and civilians don't have access to. It's a restricted area underground, so it's a secret that people don't know about."
Issei was intrigued. "What did you guys do there?"
"I don't know too much about it, I was sheltered from most of the Vatican. Only the higher ups knew about me. I was taught to utilize my Twilight Healing to heal all the repentant sinners."
'Sinners' in Christianity didn't equate to a small number of people. "So...everyone then." It wasn't a question.
"Only the ones they considered repentant. If they truly wished to become holy, then they would constitute to be healed by me." A bunch of words, and all Issei got from the statement was that devils weren't allowed to be healed.
"What role did Sellzen have in your… line of work?." Issei didn't know what to call her healing the people selectively chosen by the higher ups of the Vatican.
Asia smiled sadly, "I didn't actually know him in the Vatican. I met him after I had been-" Asia stopped her sentence, before gaining a determined look on her face. "After I had been exiled from the church."
That must've taken her a lot of courage to get out. It seemed she was struggling to come to terms with it herself. Issei chose not to ask her on why Asia had gotten kicked out.
"I can feel your pity, Issei." Asia said bluntly. She had a frown on her face, and Issei could see her eyebrows narrow and her eye muscles clenching.
"That wasn't pity, Asia. It was sympathy." Issei didn't look down at Asia for something she couldn't control. What happened had already happened and there wasn't anything Issei could do about it. He sympathized with her, because the girl in front of him appeared holier than anyone Issei could imagine the higher ups being. Yet they still chose to forsake her in the name of God, not the other way around.
Asia's features softened. "Oh, sorry. I'm still getting accustomed to your emotions. You have a lot of them going around you. You must think a lot about things other people say."
Issei smiled. "Something like that."
Asia smiled back at him. "I'm not sure what I am going to do now, Issei. I don't want to go back to Freed."
"You don't have to if you don't want to." Issei told her. There was no way that he was going to let Freed have his hands on Asia, especially if she didn't want him to.
"Thank you, Issei. You don't know how refreshing it is to be able to sense honesty in another person. I think I'm going to go back to the church to pray." Issei raised his eyebrow. If he remembered correctly, then Asia mentioned that she had been teleported away and got lost. He only shared knowledge of one person that both Asia and Issei knew that could teleport.
"Isn't that the same place Freed came from?" Issei highly doubted that Asia was suicidal. She was an empath, so surely she knew who exactly she hung around with.
"It's not the people that matter, Issei. They took care of me when no one else would. They gave me a place to pray, and that's more than I could ever ask for. They deserve forgiveness, but it isn't me who judges that. I pray to God every day for them, Issei. You understand, don't you?"
Issei did, but he was extremely sceptical. If Freed was any indication of how the rest of them conducted themselves, then he didn't think that Asia was safe around them. "If you insist. I'll walk with you to the church, Asia."
Asia's smile brightened. "Really? Oh my God, thank you Issei!" She outstretched her hand, and Issei looked at it cautiously. Grudgingly, he took her hand in his. Not seeing visions for the first time, Issei could finally feel how silky her hands were.
Asia started walking in the direction of the door. "I would like for you to stay honest with me, Issei. When we are touching like this" she swung their entangled hands "your emotions feel stronger." Hands resting at their sides again, Asia stopped in front of the door.
Her hands glowed white and the broken wood of the door came flying back to the door and reattached to it in the same position it was in before. She then opened the door by the doorknob, like nothing happened. Issei was extremely fascinated.
"Would that wooden door be of the same durability as the old one? What happens if there are small shrapnel that are extremely small like splints? Does magic just 'find' where they all are? I suppose you imagine the result, and magic chooses to obey."
Asia turned her head towards Issei, obviously not expecting her magic to be questioned. "Uhm. I'm not entirely sure. I have used this spell on broken glass, so I suppose that even the smallest of fragments will be swept up by magic. As for your other questions, they are in fact the same durability. I don't actually imagine the result, I just uhm 'order' magic to fix it and it bends to my will."
Issei was curious. How exactly would magic be able to bring something back to its original state? Perhaps everything had magic in it and the spell took all the fragments and combined them back together or perhaps magic existed as a timeless source of energy. Being able to revert something back to the past without the need of knowing how the original looked like was an extremely powerful ability.
"Hmm… would you be able to teach me that spell, Asia?" He looked at her, eager to learn.
She looked back at him apologetically. "Sorry, I'm not really a good teacher. I learnt all I know from someone really special to me. She had to leave me eventually though, and all her teachings left with her as well." Asia's sadness remembering her old teacher outweighed Issei's curiosity.
Issei bent down to check the obese man's pulse. Feeling his neck, as Issei suspected, he was dead. All that Issei got was a red covered index and middle finger coated in the man's dry blood. "Are you able to heal this guy, Asia?" Issei wiped his hand on the wall. This was a fucking murder scene. He wondered what the police would think.
"Unfortunately not, Issei. I cannot heal the dead as I cannot bring them back to life. I am able to make all the blood go away though." Asia offered. Issei looked at the blood on the walls and on the floor, not entirely the obese man's blood but Freed's as well. He looked on the side of the walls to see if he could find any pictures of the man and his wife and perhaps some children.
Seeing only pictures of the man and dozens of gold trophies scattered across the wall, Issei made a decision. A missing person's report would be issued in a day or two. That would give Issei enough time to ask Rias on what to do. He wasn't exactly sure if he should mess with something that wasn't his business.
He walked outside the door and Asia was pulled along with him. "Issei!" Asia chastised him. Issei continued at a slow pace so Asia could catch up.
"I don't know what to do with his body, Asia. I feel sorry that he died, but I don't know what else to do besides leave. He's a complete stranger to us, even though he died because Freed wanted to make me walk into a trap."
"We could've given him a proper burial, or notified his family or something." Asia said, spinning in front of Issei and tugging him along as he stared down at her.
"I already checked for any sign of family of some kind. I couldn't find anything. I could check his wallet to see his identity and call the police to report the crime. However, I would have to be turned in as a witness and I would have to lie to them saying that I don't know how he died. Or I would have to give them a different lie, by giving them an autopsy that wouldn't require the interference of magic."
Asia put her other hand on top of Issei's, making Issei softly gasp at her soft warm skin. "But still, Issei. We should do something."
Issei knew she could sense his emotions. He wasn't ignoring the man's death in the sense that he didn't even consider him an actual person, but he was ignoring him in the fact that he delegated the job to his superior. "If we're going to do anything, it would be by searching through the ends of the earth trying to find his killer and giving the man justice. 'We' aren't going to do anything about his body. That responsibility goes to an annoying crimson haired woman that I know."
Asia spun around back to Issei's side and clutched to his arm snugly. "Maybe you won't do anything Issei, but I'll be sure to pray to God for him. Hopefully he safely goes to heaven and isn't stuck in hell or purgatory waiting to be judged."
Issei's eyes widened, but he didn't stop walking. "You believe in purgatory, Asia?" The idea of purgatory was strongly rejected by the Orthodox Church. He shouldn't be surprised because Asia was from Vatican City, but then again he didn't know if she followed the same requirement of being Roman Catholic as a citizen.
Asia stared up at Issei from his side. "Of course. I believe that everyone deserves a chance for redemption, Issei, as long as they pray to God. It doesn't matter if they weren't religious during their lifetime, they have eternity in purgatory to think about their decision."
Hmm, that was a semi-flawed thought process. "So who decides if people go to hell?" He expected to hear 'God' or be given silence as a response, but Asia surprised him once more.
"The people themselves do, Issei. If they choose to live life in sin, then God of course won't force them to comply, but they will suffer in hell." Issei grew much more respect for Asia in this moment.
"How many devils have you met, Asia?" Asia stopped in her tracks, causing Issei to stop as well. She didn't extract herself from Issei's arm though, and seemed to be in deep thought.
"You're the first devil I've come to know, Issei." That would make sense. It aligned with her story of being sheltered in Vatican City. He supposed he couldn't blame her for what she believed in. How could he?
"So do you believe I should go to hell, Asia?" He wondered about her opinion on this. He was actually jealous of her empathic powers currently. He wanted to know what Asia was thinking right now.
She continued walking, and Issei walked with her. "No. I didn't say devils should go to hell, Issei." Issei's eyes widened and immediately stopped walking. Asia's face tilted up at him, curiously.
"You don't have to be an angel to be holy, Issei. Many people are sinners, however people that choose to live their life in sin are considered different. If you are a devil, that doesn't automatically make you a sinner. You can be an angel with the brightest of white wings and still be considered a sinner."
Issei looked admirably at Asia. She didn't even know the effect of her words on Issei. The extent her words reached was immense. Seeing Issei's shocked face, she asked, "Did I say something wrong? I can't get a good read on your shock."
Issei continued to walk, shaking his head. She could no doubt get a read on his bleeding admiration at this point, but he decided to voice it. "No, you didn't say anything wrong, Asia. In fact, you just said something extremely right."
If Asia noticed Issei's admiration for her, she didn't say anything. "Alrighty, okay then. Issei, I have a question." Issei looked to see how far they were from the church on the hill. It looked like they were about ten minutes away.
"You don't need to ask me for permission, Asia. Ask away." Courtesy was really something Issei disliked.
"When my eyes were open, did I hurt you?" So she didn't remember what exactly happened. That was something to jot down.
Thinking back to the cross shaped burn he had on his chest from Asia, Issei said "Yes."
Asia looked crestfallen and said, "Oh." quietly. "Sorry about that. I can heal you if you want." She offered. It seemed like she didn't remember that she healed him either.
"You already did." Issei said simply, getting an "Oh" as a response from Asia. That was good. She didn't overapologize or dwell on the situation.
"Why did I have visions of me fighting when I touched your skin, Asia?" The thought had been bugging him for a while now. Freed had called Asia an 'oracle', but was she able to give prophecies? Or somehow things that are fated to come true by God? That might include memories, Issei supposed.
"Well, that's because it's the strongest emotion I can feel. I had my senses trained, enhanced, and honed so that they were able to lock on that particular emotion. As a healer, I need to be able to identify the emotion all the time. The reason why you see those visions is because I am bringing them back to the front of your thoughts when I come in contact with you."
"I assume this emotion is pain, then?" Issei thought of his memories and it was the only emotion that was consistent throughout the entirety of them.
"Yes." Asia admitted. That was a really neat ability, Issei mused. Its combat utilizations seemed limitless.
"How come I'm no longer seeing my memories of pain right now then?" Issei asked, referencing the fact that they were currently holding hands.
"I turned it off." Asia said shyly. "It's a two way street if I can't control myself. I usually have better control over it, but it's constantly been turned on since I left the Vatican."
"Can you see weaknesses or just pain in general? If pain is centered around a particular limb like a broken leg, would you be able to spot it?"
Asia looked up at Issei, but didn't seem to judge him on the fact that he was practically asking if she was an x-ray. "I can sense the aura of pain around people, but not the specific areas it is centered in. I am not able to sense a person's memories, but I am able to tell if the pain they feel is physical or mental. I have long learned ago how to differentiate between the two."
Issei assumed he was only able to see glimpses of her past simply for the fact that she was in a state of distraught. It wouldn't make sense for her to constantly output memories to people on contact.
"You said that you could tell when I'm being honest. How does that work?" Issei was curious if she could tell the truth from lies.
"I was only able to sense your honesty because it emitted off of you strongly. It's practically an emotion for you. A good liar can easily pass my senses if they convince themselves of the lie. You must value honesty a lot."
Issei smiled sadly, thinking about a tall lengthy man with glasses. "Yeah. Honesty is one of the most admirable attributes a person can have, in my opinion."
Asia clutched Issei's arm tighter. "I am inclined to agree with you, Issei."
Issei had a question on his mind. "Asia what does 'black' mean?" He felt Asia's grip tighten once more as she was silent for a few seconds.
"I'm not entirely sure." So she knew what he was talking about. She must've had a strong idea of what it meant but didn't seem to be confident enough in her assessment. Or perhaps not confident enough in that side of her in general.
Issei let the topic rest as he approached the front of the church. He heard a 'meow' from the side and saw a white cat licking her own fur. Issei looked back at the church, it was a black cathedral that had an extremely eerie atmosphere to it. "Are you sure this is the right place, Asia?"
Asia let go of Issei's hand, and Issei's hand felt hollow and empty at the lack of her presence. "Yes. I'm going to go pray inside now, Issei." He knew that it was pretty much guaranteed that this was the place, since there wasn't any other church in Kuoh but still…
"I'll go with you." Issei decided.
Asia smiled at Issei. "You mean you'll pray with me too Issei?"
Issei smiled back at her. "I didn't say that." The blonde girl was optimistic if nothing else.
Asia seemed a bit sad. "Aw. It couldn't hurt to try, though." She seemed ready to skip her way inside, but controlled herself and walked calmly with Issei through the open doors.
There seemed to be no one inside, so Issei just watched as Asia walked her way in front of the altar and kneeled down. 'Issei, I can sense something dark in the church.' Issei summoned his sacred gear and looked around.
'I can't see anything, Ddraig.' Issei thought back. Underneath then, Issei mused.
He wasn't about to punch through the ground of the church though, and Issei just waited anxiously for Asia to finish praying. He tapped his knees and they were constantly shaking in trepidation as he just felt like he was waiting for something or perhaps something was waiting for him.
He felt the need to move his foot and raised it up off the floor of the pews as the ground was punctured and a hand reached out to grab his foot. Issei's eyes widened as the ground under his other foot was broken as well and he didn't have time to react.
He could feel himself get pulled down and his back skid against the floor of the upper level. Surprisingly, the church didn't start collapsing after Issei was dragged across it. It must've had a good infrastructure when it was built that much long ago. It hadn't been in use for over a decade.
Issei's leg was still stuck in the person's hand. Whoever it was had a really strong grip. Once Issei could finally see the lower level, he saw the person that grabbed him was a built man with a fedora obscuring Issei's view of his face. He was wearing a pale grey trench coat and Issei could feel the black leather of his gloves on his leg.
Reeling in his other leg, Issei kicked the man's face harshly, causing him to let go of Issei. Issei had successfully kicked the man's fedora off, but it didn't accomplish much. He could now see that the man had dark skin with black hair and blue eyes though. His split decision turned to be counterproductive as Issei could feel the rules of gravity apply to him. Both of them fell, but it was only now that Issei saw the man's black feathered wings. Huh, that was convenient. Shit.
Issei fell down alone, plummeting to the ground. 'Fly, fly, fly, fly." Issei chanted in his head. He heard the tear of cloth from his back and was suddenly hit with a new nervous system. Trying to gain control of himself, Issei tried to find the feeling of beating his wings and heard the sound of it as well. Looking down, Issei saw that he was only one feet off the ground.
Sighing, Issei stopped beating his wings and dropped down to the ground. That was too fucking close. Issei stretched his new found limbs and flexed them, trying to get used to them. "Issei Hyoudou." He heard a feminine voice come from in front of him.
Looking in their direction, Issei saw the same man who grabbed him apparently had apparently retrieved his fedora and put it back on his head. On the left of him were two more matching black feathered folk. In the middle was a woman with long dark blue navy hair wearing a maroon v-neck long sleeve formal coat and a burgundy miniskirt.
On the left of the blue haired woman was a small girl with twin tailed blonde hair girl with blue eyes. She was wearing a black gothic lolita outfit. 'Ddraig, I'm regretting not asking for a history lesson right now. What are these people called again?'
'Fallen Angels' Ddraig responded, before the blue haired woman started talking.
"Issei Hyoudou, I was wondering if we needed to lure you in here but you seemed to come out of your own fruition. It doesn't matter though." Her voice was the same feminine voice he remembered hearing at first, and she spoke fluent Italian. She must be the leader of the group. He looked to her sides and saw the man silently having gloved hands tucked in the pockets of his trench coat. On her left, the blonde girl was twirling her curls in her fingers. Yeah, definitely the leader.
"What is it to you?" Issei asked.
The woman seemed to lose all cordiality and started raising her voice at Issei. "Don't act like you don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, Issei. You killed my best friend!" Oh. So this woman was Raynare's friend.
"Did it even register to you that maybe she had people who cared about her as you beat her to a pulp?" Issei cringed. No it didn't, but after the fact it definitely hit with an unprecedented candid.
"She was only doing her fucking job. And you...you took her away from me!" The woman screamed. It seemed that Raynare truly did have people that loved her. Issei couldn't help to feel sorry for the woman for being put through this treatment, but not sorry enough.
"Doesn't that remind you of the exact same thing she did to my best friend? I'll never see him again because of her. I didn't kill her because she was following orders, lady. I killed her because she chose to follow those orders." Issei wasn't exactly helping his case, but the woman was being extremely hypocritical at the moment.
The woman tilted her head back and started cackling madly, reminding Issei of a certain someone. "And what if I tell you that Raynare didn't in fact kill your friend?" She shoved her hand to the side and the man went into the shadows and came out with two people in his hands.
In his right hand, the man was tugging an unveiled Asia by her collar, and in his left was a handcuffed Motohama with a ballgag in his mouth. He was shirtless with red whip markings scattered across his entire body. His skin was bruised all over and was turned purple in countless areas.
Issei's eyes widened. The man dropped both of the people at the woman's feet. The woman turned her attention to Asia and screamed at her instead. "HEAL HIM!" She demanded. Asia put her hands up and green energy emitted from her hands to start healing Motohama. His skin turned back to a normal healthy color.
The woman opened up her hand and a black whip of energy was conjured in her hand. She harshly backhanded the kneeling Motohama, causing his ball gag to fall out his mouth while he fell to the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back. She brought the heel of her boot down on his back and whipped him with her black whip. "HEAL HIM" she roared at Asia again.
Asia hurriedly healed Motohama once more, before the woman whipped him again. She continued to whip him as Asia tried her best to heal the wounds the moment they were inflicted onto Motohama. It was a fucking disgusting sight. Asia was crying as Motohama just took the punishment in silence, not even granting the woman the pleasure of hearing his voice.
His glasses were broken on both sides, his mouth was bleeding, and his lips were busted from where they used to be choking on the ballgag. Issei saw Motohama's puffy red eyes look directly at him. Issei's body was furiously shaking in pure rage.
'Boost!' Issei charged in the direction of the woman only to get intercepted by the man and the girl. They both summoned spears of light, with the man having a blue color and the girl having a red one. Issei's devil wings flapped behind his back in frustration. He could still hear the woman yelling at Asia in the background and he closed his eyes, trying his best to cut her voice out.
"Deal with him, Dohnaseek. Mittelt. I'm going to stay over here whipping the life out of the boy's friend." The woman said it with a sinister grin on her face. Issei could make out Asia's tears crying in the background.
"Yes Kalawarner, ma'am." Both of them responded robotically.
Issei growled as his sacred gear was held still by both spears of light pushing against him. "I don't have the fucking time for this!" He tried to push through the Dohnaseek and Mittlet's weapons. They seemed like amateurs, but they served their purpose of stalling Issei long enough.
'Boost!' Issei felt his power spike, but the increase in strength wasn't enough to output the fallen angels in raw power.
"Enough of this." Issei backed up and flew into the air, having the fallen angels tumble in his direction at the sudden drop of resistance. Issei pointed his gauntlet at them and opened his palm, pouring out all his rage at them. An emerald beam of energy bursted from the center of his sacred gear in their direction.
They juked and started hiding behind the cover of the pews. Issei roared a dragon's roar. He went to fly down at them, knowing that if he went for the woman the two pests would just try to stop him.
He started firing beams of energy at their location and saw them scurry away from one pew to the other.
Issei heard a noise from behind him and stopped his venting. He looked behind him to see a crimson engraved seal appear in the ground, before it started traveling up in the air revealing the black silhouette of four people.
"Rias? Kiba?" It was everyone from the occult research club but Gasper.
Kiba waved his hand at Issei. "Yo. Hisashi-burida na nega, Issei. We'll handle these two. Go tend to your friend." The white haired girl swiftly moved from her spot and picked up one of the church pews.
Dohnaseek was hiding behind it and Koneko smacked him in the air before hurling the wooden object at him. He crashed into the upper part of the church, and Koneko jumped through the hole she created.
Kiba summoned a sword in his hand and charged at Mittlet. Issei watched them engage in combat as he turned his attention back to the woman. Flying down to grab her by the throat, she noticed him coming in her direction and swiftly dodged to the side.
Issei skidded near the underground altar as he thrust his gauntlet in the direction of the woman. Metal met metal however, as she brought up a golden double sided cone shaped spear to meet his sacred gear. She cackled at him. "Oh, is little Issei mad?" She swiped at Issei with her spear, pushing him back. "This is only a fraction of what I felt. You have no idea what pain is, Issei!"
Issei panted, a bit spent from firing energy blasts at the other fallen angels. "I don't care what you're going through, woman. I don't even know your name, but it doesn't matter. For some reason you hold on to the belief that only you have experienced pain before. I'm sorry to tell you lady, but you are fucking wrong." Issei punched the woman with a left hook. However, metal met metal once more regardless of how fast and powerful Issei threw his fist.
She laughed at his perseverance. "Your right, Issei. It's not just me who feels pain. You don't know me, I don't know you. But it doesn't matter. Since Raynare is dead, no one else matters. Nothing matters. My name is Kalawarner, devil. Say your prayers, because you're soon to be dead just like your friend!" She let go, causing Issei to fall forward. She brought the tip of her spear directly down on Issei's head.
Issei reflexibly brought his gauntlet up to defend from her attack, and kicked her away. Her spear dropped in Issei's lap as her back hit the altar roughly. "Ugh." She let out a groan.
The emerald gem of Issei's gauntlet got shattered, and the entirety of his sacred gear fractured into a million crimson pieces of broken metal. Issei's eyes widened. She was able to shatter Ddraig? Issei was broken out of his thoughts as his left arm glowed emerald.
The flesh and bones of his arm started tearing away from his fingertips all the way up to his forearm, but it didn't hurt. A tougher looking skeleton and muscle of some sort connected to the stub of his left arm and started growing forward, forming a hand. Crimson scales then started filling up his arm, covering the muscle. Ddraig's scales, Issei realized. His arm glowed crimson and once it died out, Issei looked over his new arm.
It was much thinner than his gauntlet and looked like an actual arm attached to his body, not a glaive of some sort. 'Ddraig?' Issei questioned in his mind. Perhaps this was some sort of evolution from his gauntlet.
'This is the first time I've ever seen this before, Issei. I know as much as you do.' Ddraig said unhelpfully.
Issei paid his arm no mind and turned back to Kalawarner. "I'm sorry it had to be this way, Kalawarner. But your pain doesn't excuse you for what you did. We all feel pain in life, and I'm going to have to deal with the guilt of killing both you and Raynare. However, that doesn't mean that I value my life over yours. You chose to get in my path because you wanted to share your pain with me by torturing my friend. I cannot forgive that."
Issei pointed his new left hand at Kalawarner and his palm glew emerald. "Farewell, Kalawarner. I hope you find consolation if there is an afterlife, but I cannot grant you the solace you so desperately need." A beam of emerald energy blasted at Kalawarner and it went through the wall of the church behind her. A dark hole was left of where Kalawarner used to be. Issei focused on his left arm but instead of glowing back to normal, the scales contracted into his skin, revealing human-looking flesh. Issei didn't know how deep his blast dug, but ignored it as he rushed towards Motohama and Asia.
Motohama was laying on the ground while Asia tried valiantly to heal him. Motohama was uncuffed, with marks where the cuffs held in place. He was talking to Asia. "Don't heal me anymore, Onee-san. I don't wish for you or anyone else to save me." He coughed up blood all over his shirtless chest.
Motohama was speaking in an entirely different language than Asia understood, and Asia continued to try to heal him. Issei brought his hands behind Asia's back and pulled her away from Motohama by the stomach.
"ISSEI!" Asia screamed at him, waving her hands in the direction of Motohama. She struggled in his grip as Motohama smiled sadly at Issei.
"Arigato...Issei." Motohama managed to get out, coughing every other second. "Come over here. I want to hug you one last time." Issei let Asia go and she hurriedly tried again to start healing him. Issei leaned close to Motohama and listened to what he had to say.
Motohama brought his bloody hand up to Issei's cheek and cupped his cheek. He brought Issei forward and kissed his forehead. "I'm a broken man, Issei. I don't have much time left and regardless, I don't wish to live anymore. I wouldn't even be considered living, there is no way that I ever revert back to the Motohama that made you smile."
Motohama chuckled, his lungs giving out on him. "Oh, it hurts to laugh. I'm just a weight that hasn't been jettisoned off the boat yet. I will just pull you down at this point, Issei. You're strong, I can tell. Stronger than me, stronger than Matsuda. Stronger than anyone I know. Stay strong for me, Issei. Sail that ship, Issei. Live for yourself."
Motohama's eyelids closed and he died in Issei's arms. Asia was still crying on the sidelines with healing energy covering the both of them. Issei felt his physical fatigue go away, but he knew Motohama wasn't coming back to life. And he didn't want Motohama to, it seemed that he died a satisfied death. As selfish as he may be, Issei didn't wish for Motohama to come back to life just so Issei can hold on to him one last time.
Asia stopped healing Issei when she realized that it wasn't doing any good. "Why did you stop me, Issei?" She cried.
Issei smiled sadly at Asia, the red blindfold that he gave her drenched wet in her tears. "Some people just don't wish to be saved, Asia. You can't force them to be healed. Motohama died bravely, and chose not to live anymore. There are some people you simply have to let go, Asia."
Issei's mouth grimaced. He truly believed what he was saying, but it fucking hurt in this moment. He felt his cheeks wet as he knew tears were currently streaming down his face, but he didn't cry out loud. He would stay strong for Motohama's sake.
Issei could feel eyes looking down at his back and he knew it was someone from Rias' peerage. They didn't say anything and just silently watched as Issei and Asia cried over the man they couldn't save. Issei got up and hoisted Motohama over his shoulder. "I'm going to walk back home alone, Rias."
Rias nodded at him as the rest of her peerage moved to the side to accommodate Issei with enough space. Asia tugged his free arm, and Issei looked down at her. "Don't leave me, Issei. I'm coming along wherever you go." Issei smiled down at her, she obviously didn't understand him when he told Rias that he wanted to go alone.
"I guess I can't deny you that right, Asia." He expanded his devil wings and flew up through the hole Koneko created, Asia holding onto Issei and Issei holding onto Motohama. Once they reached the upper level, Issei retracted his wings and he and Asia calmly walked in silence.
Asia didn't know where they were heading, but they were going to Motohama's house. It took a whole hour of silence until Issei finally saw the yellow exterior of Motohama's home. Issei looked down at Asia and Asia let go of his hand. He rang the doorbell and waited patiently for someone to open it.
"Coming!" He heard a woman's voice from the inside of the house. Her footsteps started approaching, and Issei's anxiety flared intensely. He didn't know what to say to Motohama's mother.
The door opened and he heard a gasp. Luckily, Asia had healed Motohama's dead body enough that there were no more blood spots and the bags under his eyes disappeared. He looked like he was sleeping happily, albeit shirtless. However, one glance at him and Motohama's mom knew that he wasn't in this world anymore.
"Oh my god, Issei. Is that…" She pointed at Motohama and Issei nodded. She started crying out tears and put her face in her hands. "How did he die?" She wished to know, so Issei would tell her.
"He died, because of me." Issei answered truthfully.
Motohama's mom bawled harder. "Did...did he die happy?"
Issei couldn't bring himself to even give a false smile. "He died the bravest death possible, ma'am. He was the strongest man I ever knew." Motohama's mom opened the door, letting Issei inside.
Issei and Asia both stepped inside, and Issei placed Motohama's body down on the living room couch. Motohama's mom was no longer facing Issei as he and Asia were alone in the living room, while she was in the kitchen. Issei heard the tap of the sink running from the kitchen. The faucet suddenly turned off and Motohama's mom finally spoke up. "I wish to be left alone, Issei-san. This isn't goodbye. You'll see me at the funeral soon. Say some kind words for him, would you Issei?"
"Of course, ma'am. I'm sorry." He turned around and headed out the house.
"Mi dispiace signorina." He heard Asia say to Motohama's mom behind him as she came from his back and closed the door behind her. The door clicked, and Issei collapsed on the steps of Motohama's house.
Asia brought her body close to Issei, and Issei outstretched his arm around her to pull her in. "I'm sorry, Issei."
"Don't apologize, Asia. It wasn't your fault. I don't blame Motohama's death on any individual person, even myself." Motohama wouldn't want Issei to blame anyone. Rias must feel extremely guilty, Issei would make sure to talk to her later on tomorrow.
"Why did you tell Motohama's mom that he died because of you?" Asia noted what Issei told Motohama's mother. Didn't he just say that he didn't blame anyone?
"Because it was the truth. I contributed to his death. She needed to know that." Asia felt Issei's honesty but could feel that he was blaming himself at the moment. He could say whatever he wished, but she knew that it would take time to get over Motohama's death.
"Will you attend the funeral?" The funeral service was something that Issei wasn't looking forward to.
"I don't know. I have to go, Asia. But I don't know if I'll be able to say anything without crying." He knew that he had a responsibility to attend the funeral, a duty as Motohama's best friend. He would see Motohama's mom there as well as Matsuda. His mom would probably be attending it as well. He would have to buy or rent a suit.
"I'll go with you, Issei." Asia told him. It wasn't an offer or a suggestion. She planted her feet firmly on the ground, and Issei knew he couldn't tell her off otherwise.
"I guess that makes it seem a little better." Asia being by his side made him feel happier. She alleviated many of his worries. They didn't disappear, but they certainly lessened to a greater degree.
"It's what I'm here for, Issei." Issei knew she was talking about more than just her duty as a nun. She wasn't even an official one, but she still chose to follow the life of one.
"Your compassion is entrancing. I really like that about you, Asia." He knew she didn't want to go because it would make him feel better. She wanted to go because she needed to express her own feelings to Motohama before he was lowered down into the ground.
Silence filled the moment as Asia didn't respond to Issei's comment. She finally spoke up a few moments after. "You know, Issei." Asia started.
"Yeah, Asia?" He didn't know, but he wanted to find out.
"I am able to feel your emotions. Other people's feelings add to mine as well. I hate it when people are sad, but it happens all the time. I can't prevent that." Issei forgot she was an empath. Him feeling sad must make her feel ten times worse.
"I'm sorry, Asia." Issei tried to be less sad for Asia, but wasn't able to become happy on the spot.
"Didn't you just tell me not to apologize, Issei? You should heed your own advice." The girl was witty.
Issei smiled. "You're too clever for your own good, Asia."
Asia smiled back. "There doesn't exist anything as 'too' clever, Issei."
"I want to do something, to give back to you. You've helped me out so much, Asia." She was definitely someone he wanted to keep around. She was too useful, and it looked like both of them could benefit off the relationship.
"There is something you can do, Issei." Asia answered Issei. There was something she wished for?
"Anything, Asia." Issei didn't have any money, but he would grant her practically any favor she asked for, short of killing himself or other people.
"Can you say my name one last time?" She still liked it when he said that shitty pronunciation of her name? Issei couldn't imagine liking it if someone called him 'Ise', but Asia seemed to really enjoy it when Issei butchered her name.
Issei smiled sadly. "Asia." He said her name in practically every other sentence, but it still never ceased to make her smile. Issei smiled along with her.
The sun set as Asia and Issei sat on Motohama's porch, darkness falling over them both, shadowing them further in the shade.
A/N: I have a lot of elements I want to get to, but writing the 'getting to' part takes time. I chose to not give Freed a gun because that's too overpowered as of right now. Guns may or may not be included in the future of this story. I've already made up my mind, but I won't spoil anything.
In regards to Asia's empath abilities, I just want to leave you with this thought. Being honest doesn't mean that what you're saying is correct. Next chapter will be an interlude with a flashback to Motohama and Issei's backstory. It will also probably contain the funeral scene.
The chapter will be canon, but you can skip it if you want. It won't change anything about the story, it will just give you some insight on some of the things Issei believes in. Specifically his perspective on courtesy, honesty, and nicknames. It won't disrupt my upload schedule at all, don't worry.
Have a good night.
